CADL Review, 01 April 2013 31 March 2014 (G K Taylor 31/07/2014) Objective National Grid has been asked by the BSC panel, through its proxy the Imbalance Settlement Group (ISG), to provide analysis to the ISG to allow it to draw conclusions as to the appropriate level with which to set the Continuous Acceptance Duration Limit otherwise known as CADL. Introduction The CADL methodology aims to identify, and exclude from the imbalance price calculation, those Bid Offer Acceptance (BOA) actions deemed as taken for fast reserve. These actions may require above average ramping ability in order to fulfil their task of managing intra half hour energy imbalance. Given that these actions may require dynamic characteristics beyond those available to the majority of generation Balancing Mechanism Units (BMUs), there is the possibility that these actions may be taken out of cost merit. The CADL function does not explicitly tag which actions should be classified as fast reserve. It employs a pragmatic solution to removing these actions from the imbalance price. It is assumed that the duration of the BOA instruction or set of concatenated instructions utilised to resolve intra half hour issues will be shorter than the average BOA duration. Methodology 1. Defining fast reserve actions For the purpose of this analysis, BMUs delivering fast reserve actions are deemed those that fulfil the following conditions, individually or in groups: Initial ramp rate is greater than or equal to 25 MW/min; and BOA size is greater than or equal to 50 MW; and Start point is greater than or equal to the unit s Stable Export Limit (SEL), unless it s a hydro or OCGT station. This definition of fast reserve is the minimum dynamic characteristics required by National Grid in order for BMUs to be eligible to enter our fast reserve tender. Please note fast reserve is utilised on both contracted and non contracted units. http://www.nationalgrid.com/uk/electricity/balancing/services/reserveservices/ fastreserve/ This methodology by assessing the BOA dynamics provides an accurate view of the fast reserve actions employed by National Grid. This paper does not 1
provide a view on the relative merit order of fast reserve BOAs as compared to non-fast reserve BOAs. However, since the introduction of P217A (5 th November 2009) the imbalance price mechanism now utilises a pragmatic approach of determining whether CADL actions were in merit order. Elexon, when considering P217A, will examine the impact of fast reserve actions upon cash out. 2. Concatenating acceptances All instructions in this analysis have been concatenated. If a BMU receives a number of Bid Offer Acceptances (BOA) that either overlap or immediately follow each other, then this is classed as one instruction and will be counted only once in the duration of instruction analysis. The duration will be deemed the length of all the concatenated instructions. Results Overview The above methodology has been used to assess all BOA instructions over approximately a 12 month period, from 01 April 2013 to 31 March 2014. The analysis has focused on 3 sections. Specifically: 1) Fast Reserve and Plant Type 2) Energy Volumes discarded by CADL 3) Number of Fast Reserve and Non Fast Reserve BOAs 1. Fast Reserve and Plant Type According to the methodology, during the review period four hydro units delivered 99% of fast reserve BOAs. Five gas units delivered the remaining fast reserve. 2. Energy Volumes flagged by CADL Volumes flagged by the CADL process have been analysed in regard to the current CADL rules, in summary any BOA or concatenated BOA has been assessed against the duration of the instruction. Energy volumes have been defined as either fast BOAs volumes or non fast BOAs volumes. The following chart shows the volume of actions flagged by the CADL process in relation to a CADL limit set between 10 20 minutes. Also the chart illustrates the volume of fast reserve BOAs and non fast reserve BOAs as a percentage of the total BOA volume, at each CADL limit. 2
Fast vs All BOAs Volume flagged by CADL 01 Apr 2013 to 31 Mar 2014. Cumulative within X numbers of minutes. 400,000 2.0% 1.8% 300,000 1.6% Voulme (MWh) 200,000 100,000 1.4% 1.2% 1.0% 0.8% - 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 0.6% -100,000 0.4% 0.2% -200,000 0.0% BOAs concatenated Duration (min) Cumulative Fast_OFFERs Cumulative All BIDs Cumulative Non-Fast BOAs discarded as % Cumulative All OFFERs Cumulative Fast BOAs discarded as % The table below summarises the information displayed in the previous chart. Volume flagged by CADL (01 Apr 2013 to31 Mar 2014) Duration (min) (cumulative) Fast BOAs (MWh) All BOAs flagged (MWh) Fast BOAs as % of All BOAs flagged All BOAs Fast BOAs Non Fast BOAs 10 105,700 160,610 65.8% 0.9% 0.6% 0.3% 11 120,857 194,020 62.3% 1.0% 0.6% 0.4% 12 136,446 221,498 61.6% 1.2% 0.7% 0.5% 13 148,504 249,093 59.6% 1.3% 0.8% 0.5% 14 161,782 276,632 58.5% 1.5% 0.9% 0.6% 15 173,032 299,769 57.7% 1.6% 0.9% 0.7% 16 187,092 336,893 55.5% 1.8% 1.0% 0.8% 17 196,560 360,837 54.5% 1.9% 1.1% 0.9% 18 206,469 399,828 51.6% 2.1% 1.1% 1.0% 19 215,400 425,651 50.6% 2.3% 1.2% 1.1% 20 225,215 462,827 48.7% 2.5% 1.2% 1.3% From the total volume flagged by the current CADL limit of 15 minutes, 57.7% were fast reserve BOAs The current CADL limit of 15 minutes flagged 1.6% of all BOAs instructed by National Grid, of which 0.9% of all BOAs were related to fast reserve. 3
3. Number of Fast Reserve and Non Fast Reserve BOAs As well as examining the volume flagged by CADL, the number of BOAs has also been assessed. As such all instructions taken over the assessment period have been categorised as either fast reserve BOAs or non fast reserve BOAs in regards to the outlined methodology. The table and graph below illustrates the number of BOAs, categorised by BOA duration. The bar chart is a histogram of the number of BOAs split by their duration (0 to 5 minutes, 5 to 10 minutes, 10 to 15 minutes, etc). The line chart shows the cumulative distribution of both fast reserve and non fast reserve BOAs, e.g. 6% of the fast reserve BOAs lasted for 5 minutes or less, 52% of the fast reserve BOAs lasted for 10 minutes or less, 70% of the fast reserve BOAs lasted for 15 minutes or less, etc. 10000 9000 8000 7000 6000 5000 4000 3000 2000 1000 Non_Fast vs Fast Actions 01 Apr 2013 to 31 Mar 2014 100% 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0 01-5 min 06-10 min 11-15 min 16-20 min 21-25 min 26-30 min 31-35 min 35-40 min Fast_OFFER_Count 1020 7679 2977 1631 1069 581 365 350 Non_Fast 7589 7642 8876 7235 5449 4352 4472 5136 Cumulative Fast OFFERs % 6% 52% 70% 80% 86% 90% 92% 94% Cumulative Non-Fast BOAs % 7% 15% 24% 31% 36% 40% 45% 50% Concatenated Duration 0% The number of fast reserve BOAs peaked in the 5 to 10 minute duration category The number of non fast reserve BOAs peaked in the 10 to 15 minute duration category The current CADL limit of 15 minutes captured 70% of fast reserve BOAs over the assessment period The current CADL limit of 15 minutes captured 24% of non fast reserve BOAs over the assessment period 4
The following chart shows the proportion of fast reserve / non fast reserve BOAs, grouped by their duration. 100% Non-fast vs Fast Actions 01 Apr 2013 to 31 Mar 2014 90% 80% 70% 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% 1-5 min 1-10 min 1-15 min 1-20 min 1-25 min 1-30 min 1-35 min 1-40 min Cumulative Non-Fast BOAs 7589 15231 24107 31342 36791 41143 45615 50751 Cumulative Fast_OFFERs 1020 8699 11676 13307 14376 14957 15322 15672 Concatenated Duration The proportion of fast reserve BOAs compared to non fast reserve BOAs peaks in the 5-10 min interval. 5